HRI Columnists

HRI Selections

HRI Featured Bloggers

Marc Lawrence

Marc Lawrence has authored thousands of articles expounding on the three primary forms of sports handicapping: Fundamental, Statistical and Technical. To be a successful handicapper, blending all three forms of analysis into the handicapping equation. Marc relies heavily on a proprietary powerful database of scores, stats and results of games played since 1980, both College and Pro Football and College and Pro Basketball.

Marc has been handicapping sports professionally since 1975, having won more documented Top 10 Handicapping Achievement awards than any handicapper in the nation. He won the 2005 STARDUST FOOTBALL INVITATIONAL Contest and was a SEMI-FINALIST in the 2006 $100,000 LEROYS' MONEY TALKS Contest last season. He finished the 2006 season as the No. 1 handicapper in the NFL as documented by SPORTS WATCH in Las Vegas. Marc also finished No. 1 in the nation in College Football win percentage in 2005 as documented by both the SPORTS MONITOR in Oklahoma and SPORTS WATCH in Las Vegas. He was named HANDICAPPER OF THE YEAR in 2005 by FOOTBALL NEWS.

In 2008, he finished No. 1 in NFL win percentage according to SPORTS WATCH and also captured 1st place honors in the 2008 PLAYBOOK WISE GUYS CONTEST.

Marc has hosted a national radio show "MARC LAWRENCE AGAINST THE SPREAD" for each of the last 16 years on over 100 stations syndicated in the USA. He is a tireless handicapper who works a minimum 60-hour week during the football and basketball seasons. As a handicapper he firmly believes that three things can happen when you bet an underdog, and two of them are good. He enjoys helping others to become better informed.

Marc married his high school sweetheart 40 years ago and has one son, Marc Jr., who works with him in the industry. Aside from publishing the PLAYBOOK Football Yearbook magazine and Weekly Newsletters, Marc enjoys golf and horse racing.

Monthly Archives

Syndicate

Monday, December 06, 2010

Coaching Down The Stretch

With the NFL season approaching its stretch run for the 2010 season, let’s examine the strengths and weaknesses head coaches have displayed throughout their NFL career during the final four games of the season. By becoming aware of the good, bad and ugly roles we can put ourselves into position to make a key score or two between now and the start of the playoffs.

Listed below are each coach and their Best or Worst ATS situational record. All results are regular season ATS from Games 13-16 and are lifetime with current and former teams. Enjoy the run to the wire…

Monday, November 29, 2010

JUST CHILLIN’

Weekends are the reward for a job well done. The time to kick back, relax and let it all hang out. And if you're the kind who just can't make it to the weekend you'll be glad to know that in Jimmy Buffet's world its 5:00 o'clock somewhere and its Margaritaville. No stress. No strain. Just a cold one or two, to take the edge off.

For workaholics, however, chilling is just another word for the office air conditioner being set too low. Weekends are a time to button up all the loose ends and catch up on the work not quite completed. For college football teams, chillin' is a week off during the season. It's a time to heal battered bodies and take a breather from the physical pounding and pressure of knocking heads with the enemy.

When it comes to dealing with a week of rest in college football, one thing is absolutely for certain. Teams playing at home with the combination of rest and revenge are definitely the right side of the game. That confirmed by the fact that, since 1980, all teams in this role are 424-360-11 ATS - or a 54% winning proposition. Better yet, bring them in off a confidence-building win and they improve mightily to 215-157-7 (57.7%) ATS.

In case you missed it, last week found Minnesota taking the edge off in dramatic fashion in a stunning 27-24 win as 15-point home dogs against Iowa.

Knowing we had created a near-58% winning angle based on 379 results, I went in search of looking for a nice subset that could win in a breeze. What I found was simple. By using the same recipe I found that if I were to -

PLAY ON any college conference home dog or pick in its Last Home Game of the season that is playing off a win with rest and revenge

it would result in a cool 26-9 ATS wining situation. To that I say, hey bartender, set me up with another one! We can make it an ice-cold one simply by bringing the opponent in off a SU and ATS win as our angle zooms up to 20-3 ATS in this role. Now that's what I call a genuine thirst-quenching libation.

FYI: This week the Cougars of Washington State figure to be chillin’ when they host archrival Washington.

And as you might suspect there is a super-cool 20-0 ATS perfect twist to this season ending party. I’ll keep that to myself and share it with members of our PERFECT SYSTEM CLUB when the situation warrants.

Written by Marc Lawrence

Marc Lawrence can also be found at Playbook.com - One Click Handicapping

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

APOLLO 17

When U.S. space shuttle Apollo 17 returned safely to earth December 19, 1972 after landing on the moon, it was the sixth and last Apollo mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface.

Safe to say that after over 300 hours of elapsed time, the performance of the spacecraft was excellent for all aspects of the mission.

The Apollo program totaled 17 missions in all and included the only 12 humans to have ever set foot on another solar system body. Total funding of the Apollo program was $20.4 billion dollars, which by today’s government bailout standards appears to be a bargain.

In the world of college football, teams returning home for a season ending conference affair with a crew of 17 or more returning starters have been especially adept in these games when seeking revenge as they have logged a 35-22-2 ATS record in these games since 1990.

Closing out this year’s campaign we find Miami Ohio, Oregon State (next week), Rice and San Diego State preparing for splashdown.

Better yet, if they own a .400 or greater record they improve to 27-11-1 ATS. Hold the Rice from the list of teams named above to find this year’s qualifiers.

And best of all, if these .400 or greater teams average 130 or more rushing YPG on the season they rocket to 22-4 ATS in these games. Look for the Aztecs to put the final wraps on a job well done this Saturday night.

Written by Marc Lawrence

Marc Lawrence can also be found at Playbook.com - One Click Handicapping